Pointing is a straightforward kind of interaction of human beings. It is a common way for people to point to an item which they are interested in, which they want to talk about, and which they want to interact with. When interacting with objects that are not within direct reach, pointing is also beneficial since it allows to interact or talk about an item without walking straight to it. Commonly used devices to assist in pointing comprise for example sticks or laser pointers.
For controlling a controllable device, for example a TV screen, a hi-fi system or an illumination system, remote controls relying on infrared light communications may be used. For controlling such a controllable device, the user intuitively points to the controllable device and operates the remote control to control the functions of the controllable device. In view of the increasing number of controllable devices in for example a home environment, remote controllers are available which are capable of controlling a plurality of controllable devices. However, for controlling a specific function of a specific controllable device, the user has to operate a specific control element assigned to the specific controllable device. As an alternative, the operator may actuate a selector to indicate which specific controllable device is to be controlled before actuating a generic control element. A further problem with remote controls that rely on infrared light is that the signals may be blocked by objects in the line of sight between the remote controller and the controllable device to be controlled.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a universal remote controller for controlling a plurality of controllable devices in an intuitive way with a simple user interface interaction.